The Real Price
by PlumCrazy
Summary: Sadness was the price to see it end." Marlene. Oneshot


**AN: All right, so I've been talking about writing this story since I got into fanfiction, and you know what, I finally did it. I'm very proud of myself. I hope you guys like it… Basically it's just Denzel's view on the world, based on the quote Marlene used at the beginning of ****Advent Children. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters… you know that. **

'Sadness was the price to see it end.' They keep telling me that, but I'm not sure I believe them. There is always sadness, but it never seems to really end.

Sephiroth was only the beginning. That killed Aerith. Of course I never met her, but t seemed to take a great toll on everyone else.

Then, Kadaj and his gang came along and it seemed hundreds of people all around the planet were dying due to the stigma and it's affects… including my parents. If one person could affect AVALANCHE, think of what hundreds could do.

After that came the Tsviets. Tons of people were killed by Deepground. Death seems to be a popular occurrence for the living.

Sadness can't be the price to see it end, because it's not over. Sephiroth will be back. Shin-Ra will rebuild. Mass murders will occur. Gangs and fighting, racism, sexists, hatred. This world will never be perfect. Gaia will forever be troubled by the human mind. It will never end, ever. And until it is over, all we can do is make the best of it.

Take Marlene for example. She's eighteen now, and she's had to deal with some pretty crazy crap. Her father died when she was a baby. She grew up in Tifa's care (As if that wasn't a horror in its own. Who let's a five year old look after a bar?). She had to see everything that went on during the five years when things were at their absolute worst. They tried to hide it from her. It wasn't necessary to tell her everything. They didn't think a five year old needed her world view to be ruined as such a young age. But times like that are hard to hide, and even through all of that, she still has a smile on her face. She's still the happy child she was when I met her.

Tifa is living through it in her own way as well. After Marlene and I grew up she decided to adopt more children. Now she's got three kids, all whose parents died due to Sephiroth or Deepground. She never fully got over Cloud. It still kills her every day to now that his heart belongs to another woman. She still cries every night when she thinks everyone is in bed. I think that's how she copes. She lets it all out at once.

Barret finds his happiness in Marlene. She may not be his biological daughter, but he raised her as his own. After the whole things with Kadaj, he gave up the oil business and started staying home with Marlene. He doesn't regret it.

Cid happily married Shera, and had a baby girl. They named her Aerith, respectively. Aerith Highwind, there's an interesting name. It's needless to say that Cid is almost overprotective of the child. I feel bad for her first boyfriend.

Vincent and Yuffie settled down together, finally. It was two years after the deal with Deepground and the Tsviets until Vincent realized Yuffie was perfect for him. They have a house in Gongonga together.

Yuffie gave up the throne to Wutai. There was a huge fuss over it, but Godo agreed after she gave him a replacement. Guess who's ruling Wutai now. Tseng. It's a long story, but apparently he was next in line anyway… Who would have guessed?

Cloud… he's well… Cloud. What more is there to say? He misses Aerith, the weight of the world is on his shoulders, and it seems everyone around him is happy. He works through the pain. He works until he's numb, until his sleep is dreamless. No one blames him.

So how have I dealt? I'm twenty now, and a Turk. We're finally what we claim to be. Peacemakers. We still kill. Of course we do. Reno would have quit if there wasn't killing anymore.

Here's the major difference between the former Turks and the resent ones: We're not hit men. We're not being paid specifically for the kill. We're being paid to clean up the world.

Or at least, that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.

I think that the real price to see it end is death. I'm not talking about other people's death. I'm talking about your own death. To find the perfect world we all strive for, you must die, clean and simple. Those of us who are good will find the promise land. Those of us who are bad will simply be forced to roam the planet as spirits, forced to live in the only real hell there is, forever.

That is the only price we must pay to see it end.


End file.
